Letter: Just another case of unwarranted secrecy

Friday, Feb. 17, 2006 | 12:31 p.m.

Once again members of the Bush administration have demonstrated their inability to react rationally to the circumstances surrounding the unfortunate hunting accident involving the vice president and a hunting companion.

As always, Vice President Dick Cheney demonstrated his aloofness and disdain for the media by not immediately detailing the facts of the incident and personally stating his regrets and concern. Was this because he didn't plan well enough and was not properly licensed to be hunting at the time of the accident? Did he need the delay in responding so that his spin doctors could portray the situation in the best possible light? Why can't these people do the simplest things in a usual and customary manner that Americans can identify with?

Secrecy and illusion is the norm of this bunch.

It should be an embarrassment to the president that his second in command, or members of his staff, did not see fit to notify him of the incident until after it had become so poorly mishandled. That speaks volumes about the actual chain of command in the Bush administration.

Phil Ventura, Las Vegas